On the morning of July 6, a specially modified Hyundai Creta rolled out of a showroom forecourt in Gangyal and pointed itself south. Behind the wheel was Chandeep Singh — a name a growing number of young people in Jammu already know from a taekwondo mat, and one they are about to know from the open road. His plan is simple to say and staggering to attempt: drive from Jammu to Kanyakumari and back, more than 7,000 kilometres, and in doing so make a case that mobility should have no barriers.
For a city that has spent this summer talking about yatra logistics, exam results and job deadlines, Chandeep's departure is the kind of story that resets the frame. Here is a young athlete from Jammu and Kashmir who has already rewritten what is possible in a competition arena, now turning a national highway into a message.
The champion behind the wheel
Chandeep Singh is a para taekwondo athlete from Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier this year he won gold in the over-80 kg category at the 11th Asian Para Taekwondo Championship held in Mongolia — the first time any para athlete from J&K has taken gold at the Asian Para Taekwondo Championship. It is the sort of headline that, in most places, would be the whole story. For Chandeep it reads more like a launch pad.
What makes his sport so compelling to a Jammu audience is how self-made the pathway is. Para taekwondo has almost no local infrastructure to speak of — no ready-made academies, no crowded feeder leagues. An athlete gets to a continental podium on grit, borrowed mat time and a refusal to accept the ceiling other people assume for them. That is a template any student staring down a tough entrance exam or a first job rejection can recognise.
Why the drive, and why now
The expedition began at 11 a.m. on July 6 from AM Hyundai, Gangyal, in Jammu, and is expected to run until roughly July 25–26. The vehicle is a Hyundai Creta adapted so that Chandeep can drive it himself across the length of the country and back. The stated goal is twofold: to attempt a world record for the journey, and to spread awareness about accessible mobility and social inclusion for persons with disabilities.
The flag-off was not a quiet affair. Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Jammu Jasmeet Singh, the Transport Commissioner and representatives of Hyundai Motor India Limited were present to see the car off — a signal that the establishment is watching a citizen-led campaign rather than a government one. Along the route, Chandeep intends to interact with local communities, the media and other stakeholders, using each stop to push the same point: with the right adaptations, the road belongs to everyone.
“With the right support, technology and determination, anything is possible,” he said before setting out — a line that doubles neatly as the thesis of the whole trip.
What ‘accessible mobility’ actually means
It is easy to file a phrase like “accessible mobility” under jargon. On the ground it is very concrete. It is whether a person who uses a wheelchair can get onto a city e-bus. It is whether a driving licence and a modified car are within reach for someone with a disability, or tangled in paperwork. It is whether a footpath, a college corridor or an exam centre has been designed with more than one kind of body in mind.
By driving the country himself, Chandeep is quietly answering the most basic version of that question — can a person with a disability operate a modified vehicle over thousands of kilometres of Indian highway? — with a live demonstration. For young residents in Jammu, many of whom will design the buildings, apps, transport systems and workplaces of the next decade, that demonstration is worth more than a poster campaign.
A different kind of role model
Jammu's youth coverage this year has been thick with achievers — chess players at Bari Brahmana, soft-tennis teens on national podiums, student founders shipping software from campus labs. Chandeep fits that lineage but stretches it. His story is not only about winning; it is about widening the door so that more people can walk, wheel or drive through it after him.
There is also a healthy dose of adventure here that any 15-to-30-year-old can feel in their gut. A solo-spirited, multi-week road trip down the spine of India, one modified car, one athlete, thousands of kilometres of monsoon-slicked highway ahead — it is equal parts sporting feat and travelogue. If it lands the world record he is chasing, Jammu will have another first to its name. If it simply gets people talking about ramps, licences and inclusive design, it will already have done its job.
For now, the Creta is somewhere on the map between Jammu and Kanyakumari, and a para world champion from this city is proving a point one kilometre at a time.
Sources: Daily Excelsior — J&K para athlete embarks on 7,000-km drive; The Tribune — Jammu's Chandeep Singh bags historic gold at Asian Para Taekwondo meet.
